As early as the 13th minute of the contest, Niamh Charles opened the scoring on a landmark Blues appearance. After some neat combination play down the right-hand side, the ball fell at the feet of our full-back who finished with aplomb from close range to give us the lead at the break.

Pernille Harder doubled that lead two minutes after the restart with an unstoppable strike. Sophie Ingle headed home a third from close range just after the hour mark before Erin Cuthbert netted our fourth of the night to send us back to the WSL summit.

100 club

Emma Hayes made seven changes to the side which began the FA Cup final victory over Manchester United at the weekend. Zecira Musovic, Kadeisha Buchanan, Jess Carter, Sophie Ingle, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Jelena Cankovic and Pernille Harder all came into a rotated starting 11.

Wearing our gold strip, we broke the deadlock inside quarter-of-an-hour. Harder played an intricate reverse pass to Rytting Kaneryd down the right side; the Swede crossed and the ball eventually found its way to Charles who fired home from close range as she marked her 100th appearance for the club in style.

We came close to doubling our lead 10 minutes later. Sam Kerr drove forward with purpose before sliding the ball perfectly into the path of Rytting Kaneryd down the right, who squared for Harder but the Dane’s effort was well saved by Mackenzie Arnold in the West Ham goal.

Our hosts looked to threaten in the wide areas but failed to ask any serious questions of Musovic during the first half. We had created some half chances of our own as we went in search of a second goal, but Charles’ opener was the difference between the teams at the interval.

Sealing the deal

A quick start to the second half led to us doubling our advantage two minutes after the restart courtesy of Harder. Ingle threaded an intelligent pass into penalty area where Harder was left totally unmarked, taking one touch before coolly slotting into the bottom corner.

West Ham attempted to assert some authority on proceedings but were not able to carve out any clear-cut opportunities. We added a third goal just after the hour mark when Magda Eriksson’s header came back off the crossbar and fell kindly to Ingle who nodded home the rebound.

A triple substitution with 20 minutes remaining utilised the squad depth with Guro Reiten, Lauren James and Erin Cuthbert replacing Harder, Cankovic and Jessie Fleming as we went in search of further goals to bolster our goal difference.

Alsu Abdullina and Katerina Svitkova gained some valuable minutes when they replaced Charles and Kerr with 10 to play. In stoppage time, substitute Cuthbert put the icing on the cake with a sumptuous strike for our fourth of the night to round off a resounding victory.

What it means

Four goals and three points take us back to the top of the WSL table this evening. We hold a two-point lead over Manchester United with both teams having played 20 games, while we possess a +4 goal difference with two matches left to play.

What’s next?

Our penultimate WSL fixture of the season sees us take on Arsenal at Kingsmeadow on Sunday in our final home match of the campaign, as we continue our quest to retain the WSL title.

The match will kick-off at 12.30pm (UK time) and for supporters who cannot attend, the game has been selected for live television broadcast on BBC Two.

The teams

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Musovic; Buchanan, Carter, Eriksson, Charles (Abdullina 78); Fleming (Cuthbert 67), Ingle; Rytting Kaneryd, Cankovic (James 67), Harder (Reiten 67); Kerr (Svitkova 78)

Unused Subs: Berger, Leupolz, Perisset, Mjelde.

Scorers: Charles 13, Harder 47, Ingle 62, Cuthbert 90

West Ham United (5-3-2): Arnold; Shimizu, Fisk, Tysiak (Snerle 53), Cissoko, Smith; Evans (Thestrup 62), Parker, Longhurst; Brynjarsdottir (Hayashi 62), Asseyi (Atkinson 78)

Unused Subs: Hillyerd, Denton, Cooke, Houssein, Ademiluyi.

Booked: Cissoko (25)